At this time, the Beijing army had begun to set up camp.
With Qingzuka Mountain as the center, camp along the Dahei River. These soldiers can now do it with their eyes closed when it comes to setting up camp. Along the way, I have become familiar with what I have been doing for a long time.
First dig trenches on all sides, then put the excavated soil into sacks, and then build a city wall that is three meters wide at the bottom, two meters wide at the top, and four meters high. Arrange barbed wire on the outside of the trench. Except for the two regiments 21 and 22 that remained on the transportation line. Two artillery regiments and twenty infantry regiments were all in the camp.
The civilian husband was placed in the middle of the camp. They and the baggage were protected. Under the command of the soldiers, the civilians set up tents, dug drainage ditches, and dug toilets. Engineers were drilling water wells in the camp.
Although it faces the Dahei River, Yang Fan wants to prevent the Mongols from throwing dead horses into the river upstream and polluting the water source. In history, the Mongols often engaged in this kind of biological warfare. Or the groundwater is safe.
Arrow towers made of scaffolding were erected behind the sandbag wall. The outside is covered with large steel plates. Crossbowmen defended on the arrow tower. Every thirty meters on the sandbag city wall, there is a ten-meter-high platform made of sandbags, on which firearms such as Franco machine guns, general cannons, red cannons, and Luzon bronze cannons are arranged.
Archers and three-eyed gunmen are also placed on the sandbag walls. There are four regiments responsible for guarding the outer city wall.
The height of Aozuka is 33 meters high. Yang Fan set up his headquarters here. At this time, the top had been flattened into a platform by engineers, and the Chinese army's tent was set up on it. The hillsides on all sides are covered with tents of various sizes. The military headquarters of the Western Expeditionary Army is located here.
Yang Fan, Zhang Shize and the combat staff all live here. As chief officers, Yang Fan and Zhang Shize have their own folding camp beds. Everyone else had bunk beds. The beds were cut into angle steel and transported in caravans. These easy to get on and off beds are very easy to disassemble and assemble.
In the middle of the big tent was a sand table that the staff had just made. At this time, small flags are being used to mark the situation between ourselves and the enemy.
"According to the scout report, seven Tumut troops in Qinghai, with a total of 30,000 cavalry, came out to assist the Tumut headquarters. They have already reached Helan Mountain and are expected to arrive in ten days."
"Alxa Wanhu, eight thousand troops sent this time, have crossed the Daqing Mountains and will reach the battlefield tonight."
"The Seven Guards of Guanxi have a total of 20,000 troops and are currently approaching Daqingshan."
The Mongols in the Seven Guards of Kansai are actually the Jizhou of the Ming Dynasty. These people are all Mongolian tribes from the four major khanates who came to Kublai Khan. Some of them fled because of failed internal fighting, and some fled because of various conflicts. Kublai Khan placed them west of Jiayuguan. The triangle area in eastern Xinjiang starts from Hami in the north and ends at Lop Nur in the south.
After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, they surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang decided to incorporate them. The Ming Dynasty successively established the Seven Guards of Kansai in the land of Sali Uighur.
They are Anding, Aduan, Quxian, Handong, Shazhou, Chijin Mongolia, and Hami Qiwei. They were still allowed to manage themselves, but they were only nominally vassal to the Ming Dynasty, similar to the chieftains in the south.
Listening to the situation report, Yang Fan frowned, the situation was not optimistic.
The Tumuts currently have 30,000 elite soldiers. There are also 20,000 herdsmen armed. It is currently known that nearly 60,000 reinforcements are rushing to the battlefield. This is already more than 100,000 people.
Moreover, there is no news yet from the four major tribes of the Monguwala people in the desert. The intentions of Tushetu Khan of Khalkha Mongolia are unknown. Ordos in the south also has the possibility of heading north. This is also the reason why Yang Fan took the supply route through Zhangjiakou instead of taking Shanxi via Datong to naturalize.
It's too close to Ordos. Yang Fan is not optimistic about the border army. If the border troops in Ningxia Town, Yulin Town, and Datong Town that had been mobilized years ago were not strong enough, it would be difficult to rule out the possibility that the Ordos troops would divide their troops and go north to attack Yang Fan from his descendants.
Looking at the sand table, Yang Fan's face was as dark as water. He had to make a decision at this time.
If we take conservative measures, we should stick to our guns and learn from those who once had our heads shaved. We are having trouble with the Mongols here. They all came here just after winter. This grassland cannot support so many people. Yang Fan has many defensive methods, so it would be a good idea to go on the defensive to consume them.
Another way is to take advantage of the fact that the enemy army has not gathered yet, strike first, defeat the Tumuts first, and seize Guihua City.
】
Now, only the Alxa people have arrived. Other reinforcements have not yet arrived. If you want to start a war, you must make a decision as soon as possible.
"How do you think we should fight?" Yang Fan asked Zhang Shize.
"There are only two choices, either to hold on. Or to take advantage of the fact that their troops have not gathered together, and shoot a fucking shot first. It is better to cut off one of the ten fingers than to hurt them. We defeated the Tumuts and put them to death." The Alxa people eat it.”
Yang Fan nodded, it was time to make up his mind. If it were his own cavalry and infantry troops, Yang Fan would launch an attack without hesitation. Just annihilate them. But now these two troops are still on the road.
The cavalry army was sent by Yang Fan to attack Tuxie Tuhan's tribe, and the infantry army is still on the march.
Yang Fan's original plan was to attract the Wala people to become naturalized. Build a stronghold and fight stupidly, wearing down the enemy in defense. Then, the cavalry army went to raid the Wala people's hometown. The infantry corps lurked outside the battlefield. When the news came that the Oirat Alliance was occupied by the cavalry army, they took advantage of the chaos of the enemy's troops and launched an internal and external attack to annihilate the enemy.
However, in combat, soldiers are impermanent and water is impermanent. It must be adjusted at any time according to changes in the situation. Now there is an opportunity. The enemy only has about 50,000 people, and the real standing army is only 30,000 people.
Okay, try a surprise attack. If you can capture Guihua City, go to the north of the river and hold it. If you can't capture it, just retreat. Anyway, a solid camp has been established here.
Yang Fan finally made up his mind.
"After dark, engineers set up five pontoon bridges on the Dahei River, which must be completed before dawn."
The width of the Dahei River is between 20 and 50 meters. Now in the dry season, it is only more than 20 meters wide and its depth is less than half a meter to one meter. It is almost possible to cross the river by running water, but a large number of siege weapons must have bridges, otherwise the mud at the bottom of the river will not bear the load and they will not be able to cross at all.
"The entire army will have extra meals tonight and have an early rest. We will make meals tomorrow at five o'clock and attack the north bank of the river. The goal is to defeat the Tumut troops within two days and capture Guihua City."
As the order was delivered, the entire camp sprang into action. The atmosphere of the war was tense. Everyone knows that the long-awaited war is finally about to begin.
In fact, these soldiers in the Beijing camp have never been on the battlefield, although they have been trained to be mechanical and numb. However, at this time, I was still very nervous.
The war is about to begin tomorrow, and I don’t know if I can win.
Late at night. The Mongols on the other side were still on alert. However, there was no one by the river. Because the arrow tower's crossbows had killed everyone who tried to get close to the river.
Engineers began to build a pontoon bridge in the icy river water.
